Stormy Weather

[cloughie]

I was watching Final Score this evening and the reporter from one of the matches said 'I think it's sweltering everywhere'.
Well not here - been dull or wet all day and expecting more rain tonight.

[BBMmk2]

Just down the road from me in Shoreham, a terrible tragedy occurred at the air show there, today. A Hawker hunter was about to complete a loop the loop when it nosed dived and crashed, killing 7 people.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just down the road from me in Shoreham, a terrible tragedy occurred at the air show there, today. A Hawker hunter was about to complete a loop the loop when it nosed dived and crashed, killing 7 people.

Terrible, BBM. You wouldn't catch me going to an air show, tbh.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just down the road from me in Shoreham, a terrible tragedy occurred at the air show there, today. A Hawker hunter was about to complete a loop the loop when it nosed dived and crashed, killing 7 people.

A real shocker. Terrible for all involved. I must say that when I heard about it a few hours ago, I spared thoughts for our Sussex / Hants Chapter, including you Bbm and teamsaint who's no stranger to the A27 I suspect... but further west usually, I think... hoping all were doing other things elsewhere.

It's unconfirmed but some reports say that a cyclist was among the casualties. Makes one think of the randomness of life: when you're cycling along the wretched A27 you have enough perils to worry about without being wiped out by a fighter jet from the '50s..

Sometimes, you're just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and there ain't nuttin' you, me or anyone can do about it...

[BBMmk2]

It's most unfortunate. I love air shows. We had Eastbourne a couple or so weeks ago. That one is so popular. certainly makes you think though about how life is and what could happen etc.

It's just as well we don't know what's around the corner! Apperantly, the pilot actually survived the crash but is critically ill in hospital.

[greenilex]

The storm after dark last night was pretty extreme over central Southampton.

[Anna]

The Shoreham air crash is a there for the Grace of God moment and a reminder of our own mortality.

One small thunderstorm about an hour ago, now in the Hay/Talgarth vicinity, again with such rain it was impossible to see through it. As yet I haven't ventured into the garden to see what damage may have been caused by last night.

Shock news this morning: The Met Office has lost the contract to supply the BBC with its weather reports. "The BBC said it was legally required to secure the best value for money for licence fee payers and would tender the contract to outside competition. The Met Office said it was disappointed by the decision. A replacement is expected to take over next year."

I do hope they don't go for one of the Daily Depress shock horror headlines cowboy firms!

[french frank]

News reported that the Met Office is to lose the BBC weather contract (cost, apparently, not reliability). Coincidence - yesterday I was at the computer when heavy rain started beating against the window (I'd been gardening all afternoon and had just come in). I remembered the Met Office had forecast rain later so out of curiosity I went straight to the site to see what 'odds' they were quoting. 4-5pm was still showing at (if I remember) 20% chance and 5-6pm at 80%. I looked at the computer clock - 5.08pm .

[Nick Armstrong]

yesterday I was at the computer when heavy rain started beating against the window (I'd been gardening all afternoon and had just come in). I remembered the Met Office had forecast rain later so out of curiosity I went straight to the site to see what 'odds' they were quoting. 4-5pm was still showing at (if I remember) 20% chance and 5-6pm at 80%. I looked at the computer clock - 5.08pm .

Yes I have found over the months and years that the morning BBC weather (e.g. TV local news at 8.30) will far more often than not get it right, almost to the minute in terms of the onset of rain that day. Been very useful for having dry cycle rides whenever possible. Hope the BBC don't switch to unreliable cheap weather cowboys

"Good morning madam, your Daley Weather. Ten to two yer sunshine and showers, evens on a rumble or two"

[BBMmk2]

Yes I have found over the months and years that the morning BBC weather (e.g. TV local news at 8.30) will far more often than not get it right, almost to the minute in terms of the onset of rain that day. Been very useful for having dry cycle rides whenever possible. Hope the BBC don't switch to unreliable cheap weather cowboys

"Good morning madam, your Daley Weather. Ten to two yer sunshine and showers, evens on a rumble or two"

Bless

[Keraulophone]

Rain stops play at the Oval... with just two wickets to go, with tomorrow probably a washout. Forecast to clear up later this afternoon, unfortunately.

[mangerton]

I note your comments on BBC, the Met Office, and the weather. Sorry to rain on your parade and all that, but for many parts of the UK things can only improve. Forecasts on Radio 4 frequently split England into regions - nothing wrong with that - and then at the end we hear "For Scotland and Northern Ireland....."

So the weather in Lerwick, Enniskillen and the 500 miles between them is the same? Somehow I doubt it very much.

OT, a lovely day here today. I'm sorry to hear rain stopped play at the Oval.

[Anna]

It would appear that a NZ group and a Dutch one are in the running, but the BBC say they would still rely on the Met Office for shipping forecast (what would Radio 4 be without the wonderful shipping forecast?) and severe weather warnings. And surely the fact that all the ‘official’ weather stations are owned and operated by the Met Office means that forecasters would have to get their information from them in the first place? I do hope we won’t be told to get our forecasts via an App, Facebook or Twitter …..

After constant rain here it's finally brightening and forecast says by 3pm likelihood of precipitation will be down to 30% (I often use the hourly segments as well when it's bad weather to time when I go out) Still a severe warning for us here for tomorrow but then August is usually the wettest Summer month .... (that's me looking on the bright side again!)

Edit: Hadn't seen mangerton's. It is also annoying to have N & S Wales lumped together as if they're one region - but on BBC Wales tv we do get very detailed local forecasts.

[Serial_Apologist]

The last rain spots are now falling from the cold front, whose passage NE has utterly changed the feel of the air from earlier on this morning: 2 hours of rain (half an hour of which was heavy), during which the wind shifted from SE to SW and the temperature here dropped from 22 C to 17 C. The thunder reported by Anna further to the NW appears since to have died out, with no current lightning* reported anywhere along the line. Watching the low cloud as it rushed out from the approaching rain assured me that we would not be getting any thunder from this, and that turned out to be right. It's now back up to 19 C, and you could literally hold a taut piece of string aloft, aligned along the margin between the slow-moving frontal back shield and the strip of blue sky, rising up to about 20 degrees above the horizon to the south west and soon to be coming overhead.

So the sun should be back out in another hour or so - which is just as well, given that I have some outdoor work to do, and the unlikelihood that I'll be able to do it after today, to judge from the likely weather for the next week!

*Woops! - Unintended pun there.

[cloughie]

It would appear that a NZ group and a Dutch one are in the running, but the BBC say they would still rely on the Met Office for shipping forecast (what would Radio 4 be without the wonderful shipping forecast?) and severe weather warnings. And surely the fact that all the ‘official’ weather stations are owned and operated by the Met Office means that forecasters would have to get their information from them in the first place? I do hope we won’t be told to get our forecasts via an App, Facebook or Twitter …..

After constant rain here it's finally brightening and forecast says by 3pm likelihood of precipitation will be down to 30% (I often use the hourly segments as well when it's bad weather to time when I go out) Still a severe warning for us here for tomorrow but then August is usually the wettest Summer month .... (that's me looking on the bright side again!)

Edit: Hadn't seen mangerton's. It is also annoying to have N & S Wales lumped together as if they're one region - but on BBC Wales tv we do get very detailed local forecasts.

Same here Anna, the local Spotlight weather forecasts are usually very good, but the national ones less than good, and the far SW rarely gets a mention. I can hardly see the value in the pc frequent mention of temperatures in Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Belfast. As the Met Office is based in Exeter you'd think they'd do better. Is the Met Office financed by the taxpayer? If so I would have thought it a good idea that they were the suppliers of forecasts to the BBC who I would have thought were the main source of weather information for the majority of the population.
Just for the record today is a lovely sunny day in West Cornwall.